This is the brave, new world of accelerating the pace of affordable housing development, with emphasis on both those terms.

It is brave: Gov. Josh Green appears to be putting the pedal to the metal in making gains on Hawaii’s longstanding chief policy goal: narrowing the deficit in housing inventory for the islands’ workforce. By the state’s estimates, 50,000 homes are needed in the next five years even to begin addressing what’s described as the housing crisis.

But it’s also new. The governor has invoked his executive powers and on Monday signed an emergency proclamation aimed at streamlining housing approvals in a big way, flattening the reviews into a process drawing together key agency officials and stakeholders under one regulatory roof. The order will be in place for one year.

This is an unconventional application of emergency proclamations, which are generally intended to allow a chief executive more expansive powers over an unexpected, near-term crisis, such as a hurricane or other natural disaster or a health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s not ordinarily used for resolving a long-standing problem such as the chronic housing shortfall.

In defense of this strategy, though, the conventional approaches have produced insufficient results, and the housing gap has kept expanding. In the end, the correct conclusion is that it’s time to try something new and, potentially, to learn how government could improve its regulatory functioning in the long term.

How, exactly, this will work in a government bureaucracy not practiced at efficiency is unclear, to say the least. Green has created a new 22-member working group staffed with a full range of key agency officials and stakeholders to review housing proposals.

According to Green’s description appearing in today’s Insight section (Page E1), the expedited process would involve a newly appointed “state lead housing officer” who will convene the stakeholders as well as what’s called the “Build Beyond Barriers Working Group.”

It’s a powerful entity, not only because of the full complement of agencies it represents but because of the heavy load of reviews it will handle. There is reason to worry that this burden will fall on agencies already struggling to keep up with other regulatory duties. The city’s Department of Planning and Permitting, to name just one, is at this moment laboring to address its own crushing building permit application backlog.

According to the proclamation document, the working group must certify that a developer has “the necessary skill and experience to develop and manage a project of the intended size and scope,” as well as the needed resources and the assurance that the project will result in the start of new residential construction within 36 months.

Once certified, the governor’s office or the lead housing officer must verify compliance with conditions of the development agreement in an annual review. That’s a heavy workload and responsibility, to apply oversight without cutting corners.

Where is the public voice in all of this? Good question. The answer is that a comment period of at least 30 days, publicized through at least one public notice, is required.

It’s rational to wonder whether this is enough, or whether the word will get out adequately to the people most closely affected by a given project. That is one metric for evaluating this new process for delivering results with transparency.

At least developers must submit a list of what waivers, variances and exemptions from existing laws the project would require. These presumably would get a hard look from the agencies that issue the needed approvals.

Land-use law expert David Callies notes in his commentary, also published today on Page E1, that the proclamation targets the protection of historic, burial and environmental laws. But he also acknowledges that the protection is not ironclad, and he argues that environmentally and historically sensitive areas should be subject to extensive review.

That should be underscored.

Groups such as the Sierra Club of Hawaii have raised the alarm that environmental concern will be unfairly subjugated to the housing needs. Indeed, the value of open space and important agricultural land, as well as the effects of climate change on proposed developments, must be given more than lip service.

But it’s also important to listen to representatives of interest groups such as Housing Hawai‘i’s Future, led by young advocates for increasing workforce housing. These are the people who essentially have been shut out of the housing market, so their views should resonate.

Green’s proclamation is vague on how affordability of projects will be factored into decisions, because it’s uncertain how a precise formula for unit prices can be set or enforced. The statewide concern for affordable housing is referenced in general terms.

That said, having more homes that working people actually can afford to buy or rent is the undeniable objective. Keeping that goal top of mind, Green’s aggressive housing strategy deserves a fair trial.